"The Maine Legislature is getting ready to vote on bills that would allow unlicensed Internet pharmacies in China, Malaysia and Pakistan to fulfill prescriptions in Maine,” the ad said.

The ad, paid for by the Partnership for Safe Medicine, asks listeners to contact their state legislators and urge lawmakers to vote against two bills that would give Mainers access to discount pharmaceuticals from foreign countries.

The bills are LD 171: An Act to Facilitate the Licensing of International Mail Order Prescription Pharmacies by the Maine Board of Pharmacy, and LD 449: An Act to Ensure Consumer Choice in the Purchase of Prescription Drugs.

Part of the push for better access to cheaper drugs from outside the United States comes from a partnership with a Canadian distributor that is in limbo.

Last year, then-Attorney General Bill Schneider ruled that employees of the City of Portland had to stop receiving prescription drugs from a company called CanaRx.

Public employees had been using the program for years without any reported problems.

LD 171 is sponsored by state Sen. Troy Jackson of Aroostook. He said the legislation aims to reopen the partnership with CanaRx.

“That's 'big pharma' trying to squeeze profits out of people and not caring what happens to their health," Jackson said, referring to the radio ads.

Jackson said Mainers will only be getting prescription drugs from so-called "Tier One" foreign countries.

Nothing in LD 171 explicitly said that, and Jackson admits that the language needs to be tweaked.

Dr. Kenneth "Mac" McCall, a pharmacist and president of the Maine Pharmacy Association, said the idea of licensing international pharmacies is a dangerous one.

McCall agrees with the radio ad.

"In a way, yes, it is scary because there's no way you can expect the consumer to tell the difference between a genuine medication and a counterfeit medication," McCall said.

McCall said the Maine Pharmacy Association cannot ensure drugs from overseas are safe.

“Realistically, we don’t have the staff, the resources in Gardiner, Maine, to enter into these contracts and these agreements and provide the regularity oversight, so it’s not a realistic expectation,” McCall said.

McCall said patients can get access to cheaper prescriptions by asking their pharmacist about generic alternatives to name-brand medications.

Carol Rancourt, Medicare educator at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging, disagrees with the notion that getting drugs from only American pharmacies is the best path forward.

"Let's face it. It's our friendly neighbors to the north that we have been traditionally allowed to get prescription drugs from for a number of years," Rancourt said.

Both LD 171 and LD 449 are in the state's Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development.